keypunch

American  

[kee-puhnch] / ˈkiˌpʌntʃ /

noun

1. Also called card punch.  Also key punch a machine, operated by a keyboard, for coding information by punching holes in cards or paper tape in specified patterns.

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verb (used with object)

1. to punch holes in (a punch card or paper tape), using a keypunch.

2. to insert (data) into a computer by means of a keypunch.

   to keypunch code numbers.

Other Word Forms

• keypuncher noun

Etymology

Origin of keypunch

First recorded in 1930–35; key ¹ + punch ¹

Example Sentences

“She didn’t have $300 for an abortionist and couldn‘t afford to lose her job as a keypunch operator.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 9, 2019

The workers will handle the 200 million taxpayer envelopes, opening and sorting the returns into categories, coding and editing them and then laboriously tapping much of the data into an out-of-date keypunch system.

From Time Magazine Archive

Secretaries, stenographers, keypunch operators and other clerical employees for the Government often earn more than similar workers in private industry.

From Time Magazine Archive

He noted the call had come from Milwaukee's Fifth Congressional District and handed the sheet to a dungaree-clad coed, who took it to a bank of keypunch operators.

From Time Magazine Archive

Off to the side were dozens of keypunch machines—what passed in those days for computer terminals.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell